Globovisión journalists attacked in Venezuela

March 6, 2012 4:27 PM ET

New York, March 6, 2012--The Committee to Protect
Journalists condemns Sunday's attack in Venezuela on Globovisión journalists
covering an opposition political rally that came under gunfire. The station reported that assailants,
who wore the red shirts associated with supporters of President Hugo Chávez,
threatened the journalists and stole their equipment.

Journalists with Globovisión, the country's last
remaining critical TV news station, were reporting on a rally by opposition
presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski in the Caracas neighborhood
of San José de Cotiza. The march was interrupted by armed men who fired weapons
in an apparent effort to break up the rally, Globovisión footage showed. Capriles, who is scheduled to face off against Chávez in
the October 7 presidential election, was immediately whisked away to safety in
a vehicle, news reports said.

After the Globovisión team filmed the shooting,
armed men approached reporter Sasha Ackerman and cameraman Frank Fernández, the
journalists said. Ackerman said the men wore red shirts that are associated
with members of the pro-government United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

Fernández sought refuge inside a private home,
but the men entered the house and stole his equipment at gunpoint, Globovisión reported.
"We were threatened--both me and my photographer Frank Fernández--with pistols,"
Ackerman told the station. "They stole our camera, microphone, and radios. We
were threatened with guns. We had to turn over all of our equipment. They took
our cassettes that had the images of the shooting."

In a statement on Monday,
Globovisión said, "These were not common criminals. These groups wore red
shirts identifying them with a political tendency. More importantly, it was an
armed and organized group that fired weapons against people."

"This kind of censorship through the barrel of a
gun does not bode well for journalists seeking to report on the crucial upcoming
presidential campaign," said Robert Mahoney, CPJ's deputy director.
"Authorities must demonstrate that they are not prepared to tolerate such
outrageous intimidation of the press by thoroughly investigating this attack on
Globovisión journalists."

During the shooting, the son of prominent
opposition lawmaker Ismael García was hit in the wrist by a bullet, and four
other people were injured, according to news reports.

Justice Minister Tareck el-Aissimi said on Sunday
that authorities were investigating the attack but asserted the opposition was
behind the shooting, news reports said. "They went to generate this show," el-Aissimi
said, according to The Associated Press. Other
government officials claimed Capriles' bodyguards were the ones to start
shooting on Sunday and had injured four people, according to news accounts.

Globovisión journalists have been threatened and
attacked by government supporters on numerous occasions, prompting the Inter
American Human Rights Court to rule that the country must provide protection to
the station and its reporters, Globovisión said. The station has frequently sparred with Chávez and his
administration. In October, Venezuela's
telecommunications regulator fined the station more than US$2 million for alleged violations
of media responsibility laws stemming from coverage of deadly prison riots in
June and July.

Globovisión
is the only network critical of Chávez that is still on the air. Another
opposition station, RCTV, was forced off cable and satellite TV in 2010 after
its broadcast license was revoked in
2007.

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